• Campaign trail: At East Coast Canning (l-r) prime minister Scott Morrison; owner Chris Kelly; company HR manager Mel, and Andrew Constance
    Campaign trail: At East Coast Canning (l-r) prime minister Scott Morrison; owner Chris Kelly; company HR manager Mel, and Andrew Constance
  • Personalised: East Coast Canning can for the prime minister
    Personalised: East Coast Canning can for the prime minister
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison opened his 2022 election campaign with a visit to East Coast Canning, a start-up mobile canning, printing, labelling and packaging business on the NSW south coast.

Morrison was spruiking the government’s message of supporting innovation and employment, and supporting would-be MP Andrew Constance, who is aiming to overturn the marginal seat of Gilmore from Labor.

Personalised: East Coast Canning can for the prime minister

East Coast Canning owner Chris Kelly, who started the business five years ago with the help of a government grant, presented the prime minster with a custom-designed can, labelled as Scomo’s Strong Economy.

Morrison accepted the can with glee, before laying into the opposition leader’s inability to say what the current unemployment rate is, and citing East Coast Canning as an example of his government supporting a business to create employment.

From its early beginnings East Coast Canning now has 35 staff, operating five Codi canning machines around Australia. Since launch it has seamed 35 million cans, and labelled 10 million.

Food & Drink Business

The Victorian government has invested $160,000 to support the sustainability and profitability of the state’s wine industry, matched by $240,000 from Wine Australia. The funds will help Wine Victoria to provide the wine industry with the knowledge, tools and resources needed to improve practices and outcomes.

Australian spirits producers had an outstanding showing at the 2025 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London, with top scoring producers including 30 Knots Spirits, Australian Distilling Co., Ester Distilling, Mt. Uncle Distillery, Nine Circles Distillery, and Turner Stillhouse.

The recent innovation forum hosted by the Australian Marketing Institute and research company, T Garage, examined the reality for the rapidly evolving landscape of consumer goods that innovation is now table stakes. Experts from three of Australia's Top 100 food and drink companies shared their experiences and confirmed innovation is not just a corporate strategy, but a mindset permeating personal and professional life.